Women's Soccer vs. St. Catherine's University

Knights settle for 3-3 draw with St. Kate’s

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – After letting a pair of one-goal leads slip away, the Carleton College women’s soccer team erased a late-game deficit and played St. Catherine University to a 3-3 draw.

“Like most MIAC competitions, nothing is guaranteed, but we tend to have close battles with the Wildcats,” said Carleton head coach Jocelyn Keller. “Today was no different. Both goalkeepers had good presence in net. It's unfortunate to give up goals with fumbles in the box, but this is an area where we can grow.”

The Knights (5-2-1, 1-1-1 MIAC) managed to produce a whopping 20 shots, and the Wildcats (1-4-2, 1-1-2 MIAC) got off 17 shots of their own. The visitors’ physical style led to the Wildcats being whistled for 16 fouls in addition to two yellow cards for hard challenges. That style contrasted only three fouls and no cards for the Knights.

Nora Mertz (Evanston, Ill./Evanston) got Carleton on the board first in the sixth minute. Her initial shot was blocked by a defender, but the sophomore forward coolly collected the ball and stuffed home the rebound for her ninth goal of the season, tying her for eighth on Carleton’s single-season goal list.

Gabi Fettig answered for St. Catherine’s in the 22nd minute, and the teams went to half rightfully tied at one apiece.

Carleton managed another quick start after the intermission when in the 57th minute Hailey Mair (Jr./Lexington, Ky./Lexington Catholic) played a beautiful ball to Julia Kenney (So./ Evanston, Ill./Evanston), whose well struck ball from the right wing found the far side of the net. It was the first goal of her career. The Wildcats responded, however, with two more goals over the next 10 minutes to give the visitors a 3-2 lead with 26 minutes to play.

In need of one more goal, Ruby Kazemi (Jr./Missoula, Mont./Hellgate) went on a strong run down the right wing before lashing the ball into the back of the net to tie the score at 3-3 and ultimately send the game into overtime.

With the first extra period winding down, there was a flurry of activity in front of the Carleton goal. The Wildcats’ Molly Hayes took a close-range shot with 27 seconds remaining, but the Knights’ Lily Danna (Fy./Los Angeles, Calif./Los Angeles CES) displayed lightning reflexes to save the day for the Carleton, reaching up in the blink of an eye to snag the shot before it could go into the net.

With one-minute left in the second overtime it was St. Catherine’s turn to receive some spectacular goalie play as Jessica Perez-Adame found herself alone with Mertz and smothered the shot to preserve the tie.

“The goals today were the product of building an attack,” noted Keller. “I think the second and third goals reflected the women getting a better sense of where on the field their teammates are moving.

“We battled in a truly physical game, and I believe we played our game throughout. We had a handful of opportunities in the first half and finishing is something we need to take pride in particularly within the six. I'm proud of the women today, and I hope they feel confident and united as we have a run of great competition upcoming.”

Carleton will continue MIAC play with a men’s-women’s doubleheader versus Concordia College on Saturday, Sept. 30. Knights Online will feature live video/stats of both matches, with the men taking the field at 1 pm. Followed by the women at 3:30 p.m.